Historic Roadside Markers
Thaddeus Stevens (Danville/2006)

THADDEUS STEVENS

Born crippled and poor in Danville in 1792,
Stevens was schooled by his mother, Sally
Morrill Stevens, and at nearby Caledonia County
Grammar School, graduating from Dartmouth
College in 1814. He became a brilliant lawyer
committed to racial equality. As an abolitionist
Congressman from his adopted state of Penn-
sylvania and as Chair of the House Ways &
Means Committee, he worked to finance the
Civil War. He is recognized as the father of
the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S.
Constitution and architect of the Reconstruction
of the South. He was both renown and reviled
for his eloquent call for the abolition
of slavery.